ummmm. hyperventilating? the lapel grabber is to get you to pay attention because we might be just a little disconcerted by 20 year old millionaires. but your then supposed to read further. when you do, you see that the bulk of the story is about a study of children, families and computers/technology. the study drew on, it appears, studies of the influence/impact of the television on the family which is an interesting issue. but, as they point out, the television is a passive technology; the computer isn't. or, at least, being able to use the computer, requires more than flicking on a switch.
i saw little in the way of arm waving but, rather, an interesting discussion of how the computer/internet is changing the power dynamics in the family. later in the article, they compare the teen guru in the home with the 'fuser guru in the workplace. the majority of users don't know what they're doing and see their work as involving something else entirely--word processing, sales, management, etc. the computer is supposed to be a tool like a typewriter. but the technologies change quickly and require that you learn new things, keep up. plus it's new and buggy and doesn't work on occassion. so, unlike the typewriter, it's not always an easy one to master. it "breaks" and the techazoid enters as a kind of alchemist that knows something that you don't and all of a sudden she's a genius.
the child in the home, according to the research, is taking on same aura and exhibiting the same kind of 'information gate keeping' power in the home as sys admins, technicians, programmers take on in the work place. (for a quick tour of the phenom as it manifests itself: do a search for +systems +administrator +humor which will bring you to the endless jokes about dumb (l)users and genious sys admins, as well as "how to understand your sys admin" or "the care and feeding of your geek" etc.)
but, like any other profession, much of their 'gate keeping' is about artificially maintaining the gate: defining everyone outside it as a luser.
anyway, this social power accorded to the geek IT pro in the workplace is exhibited at home too. it's changing, they say, the role children play in the home, something that is enhanced by various other phenom: greater purchasing power, busier working parents, etc.
kelley
>Carl
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